Kansese Cobalt Company Limited

MIGA issued two guarantee contracts totaling $49.4 million in coverage to Banff Resources Ltd. of Canada and LaSource SAS of France for their investments in a cobalt processing project. MIGA coverage is issued against the risks of expropriation and war and civil disturbance.

The project enterprise is an expansion of an earlier project in which MIGA guaranteed Barclays Metals Ltd. of Britain and SEREM of France in fiscal 1993 and 1996. The plant produces cobalt cathode from concentrate. The additional investment will generate increased exports as well as taxes and dividends for the government. It will also benefit downstream businesses such as local hotels, engineering and contracting firms, and fuel suppliers.

The project will improve local infrastructure, help eliminate an environmental hazard caused by stockpile seepage, and use the environmentally safe "bioleaching" process for producing cobalt cathodes.